Apple Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over Lack of Filters in MacBooks and iMacs Causing Trapped Dust

[iSayuSay]

I doubt you would want to expose your custom built PC to the same absurd level of criticism from others.

Not really trying to show off anything here, I didn't even name my PC specification. My point was, I'm done with iMac, or even all-in-one concept. It's too delicate for my taste. One simple problem and you would have to teardown the whole LCD panel just to get to the inside.

Honestly I don't have the courage and patience to handle such surgery. With PC I can do normal maintenance and opening up the case, cleaning the dust and reapply aging thermal paste. I can do that, but not to the level of handling the wires, and all little custom parts the iMac has.

 

[FrancoisC]

Did you have the same issue w/ the TB display? Seems I had this, and had it repaired once, but probably would have been better off just cleaning myself. Started reappearing again, and finally this seems to be an explanation.

Yup same problem. When I say I picked up my TB screen, I meant after a repair for this issue.

 

[Glmnet1]

Not really trying to show off anything here, I didn't even name my PC specification. My point was, I'm done with iMac, or even all-in-one concept. It's too delicate for my taste. One simple problem and you would have to teardown the whole LCD panel just to get to the inside.

Honestly I don't have the courage and patience to handle such surgery. With PC I can do normal maintenance and opening up the case, cleaning the dust and reapply aging thermal paste. I can do that, but not to the level of handling the wires, and all little custom parts the iMac has.

I agree with what you're saying and feel the same way but @bandalay has a point, if we were to submit our custom built pcs to the scrutiny and criticism of a crowd as big as the one discussing Apple products they would probably be considered as the worst piece of junk in history

 

[akbarali.ch]

This issue had been there since late 2012 model. Here in Mumbai (India) all the shops/malls that sell imacs have this issue. When i point out to sales guys they get in shock. I got my screen replaced twice and by the time it re-occurred 3rd time my system went out of warranty. Its very expensive to get it repaired outside warranty so i'm living with it and dont plan to upgrade till Apple fixes this issue and i'm really pissed at this. And by then way, i checked in recently, the imacs in stores here still have that cloudy/greyish patches in the bottom corners.

 

[dhumes0524]

I work in an office environment that is not in any way exceptionally dusty, and our CEO's 2013 27inch iMac has these marks on both sides. I actually had no idea what they were caused by until I saw this article.

 

[LordVic]

I agree with what you're saying and feel the same way but @bandalay has a point, if we were to submit our custom built pcs to the scrutiny and criticism of a crowd as big as the one discussing Apple products they would probably be considered as the worst piece of junk in history

yes, but to many "apple enthusiasts", Look and Feel > usability of the device.

So no matter how well any of our home built machines run, they will be hated on here for not having Apple's logo on it

 

[curtvaughan]

The Wife and I keep an "okay" clean house... With 2 big dogs and 4 cats... I cannot imagine having that must dust/dirt floating around in my house... None of my electronics have issues like that... That's crazy... And I live on a dirt road too...

Good Luck with this, feels like a bit of money grab-reach...

Coachingguy

It's an issue with thin form iMacs. Here's a blurb from iFixit:

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View...+dust+in+the+screen+like+the+previous+models？
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Not really trying to show off anything here, I didn't even name my PC specification. My point was, I'm done with iMac, or even all-in-one concept. It's too delicate for my taste. One simple problem and you would have to teardown the whole LCD panel just to get to the inside.

Honestly I don't have the courage and patience to handle such surgery. With PC I can do normal maintenance and opening up the case, cleaning the dust and reapply aging thermal paste. I can do that, but not to the level of handling the wires, and all little custom parts the iMac has.

I wonder if it would be possible for these iMacs to be designed with some sort of flap or door built into the back of the enclosure for the express purpose of vacuuming them out?

 

[iSayuSay]

It's an issue with thin form iMacs. Here's a blurb from iFixit:

https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/419428/Will+mid+2017+iMac+5K+get+dust+in+the+screen+like+the+previous+models？
[doublepost=1543592280][/doublepost]
I wonder if it would be possible for these iMacs to be designed with some sort of flap or door built into the back of the enclosure for the express purpose of vacuuming them out?

I can't see why it cannot be done? Especially with today's manufacturing technology. Apple could've certainly make a computer with compact and great design, yet provides reasonable access doors for the end user. A door that opens up to the GPU, RAM and CPU and SSD would be a godsend. Remember this is a pro computer? The users are expected to somehow understand about doing hardware maintenance, and installations.

But this is not the direction Apple would take. Even newer Macbook comes with T2 chip, a.k.a the terminator chip that bricks your shiny Mac if you have an unauthorized repair, or upgrade. Don't get your hopes up. As long as it gets the job done, I wouldn't care what's the logo behind my workstation.

 

[interessiert]

This thread has quickly grown and I haven't got time to go trough all the posts now.
Just wanna share my opinion with you.

Old MBPR has been designed in a way that allows you to open the bottom cover and clean all cooling components off dust easily. Even better, you can remove the cooling assembly and replace thermal paste on the CPU without voiding warranty.

The new MBP (I've looked at the 2018 models only as I've fancied purchasing one) were intentionally designed to prevent you keep the warranty if you want to detach CPU from cooler in order to reapply thermal paste on it. I was sad to see that.

My first thought was to take the new MBP to Apple Store for a cleaning and thermal paste job but that idea soon faded out as I have not been particularly happy with the quality of work that they did on my 2013 MBPR back in 2015 when I've had it in for warranty repair.

All in all I was really hooked in to buying the new 2018 MPB.
Then I KP problems started and I gave myself some time to see the real fix but it never surfaced.
I thought that Mac Mini would come in with T3 and free of the KPs - it did not happened.
The new "new" MBP came in and I just do not trust Apple my $4k for a laptop.

For what I do a Hackintosh will provide perfect firepower and upgradeability in desktop form factor for next 5 years to come. And I'll keep using my 2013 13" MBPR as a daily light work runner.

Apple has disappointed me in all the fields they could pull a disappointment at.
MBP Keyboards, MBP poor thermal solutions, T2 Kernel Panic, iMac Core i7 thermal solution, overall price is insane in EU...

I would remove the KP from the list of disappointments if Apple would have released a statement about the problem. They are acting dumb about it. You can call Apple and they will preach for hours about third party apps that are causing problems but they know it is all their problem. I've asked many times if they can prove that Autodesk Fusion 360 runs on the machine I wanna buy and it was impossible to set up in store test. Why is that not possible for a 4k machine?

I am not buying any Mac products until they sort this saga out.

So glad that someone is pushing this case. Poor Steve once said "We just can't ship junk"

Cook and Co should look this fabulous video – they've lost this guideline !

 

[9081094]

So what next, waterproofing?

Water cooling is needed. But my guess is that when Apple would implement such a needed feature with their faulty designs, waterproofing would be needed because that’s probably the next problem the faulty designs will have. With water cooling Apple will design it in such a way, it will definitely leak.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

People shouldn’t have filthy homes and offices anyway. 40 years of computers and I never had these problems because I’m not a filthy animal.

Why my emojis don’t show at the end of last paragraph?

 

[9081094]

People shouldn’t have filthy homes and offices anyway. 40 years of computers and I never had these problems because I’m not a filthy animal.

Why my emojis don’t show at the end of last paragraph?

It has nothing to do with filthy homes or you as a filthy animal. It’s about quality and durability. Premium priced products aren’t allowed to have these sub premium priced problems.

No problems with emojis

 

[LordVic]

People shouldn’t have filthy homes and offices anyway. 40 years of computers and I never had these problems because I’m not a filthy animal.

Why my emojis don’t show at the end of last paragraph?

did you mean to make this /s?

cause while I agree with lack of filthy homes. We don't live in a hermetically sealed bubbles.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

It has nothing to do with filthy homes or you as a filthy animal. It’s about quality and durability. Premium priced products aren’t allowed to have these sub premium priced problems.

It is about filth locally. Dust is very fine. It will go everywhere. Clean your environment. When I see colleagues with dirty desks and their computers look like filth I know what kind of people they are. My desks and computers always immaculate for decades even back when computers had massive gaps and ports.

 

[9081094]

Cook and Co should look this fabulous video – they've lost this guideline !

And add this one to the list. We should keep spreading these videos in the hope Timmy would see them as a reminder.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

did you mean to make this /s?

cause while I agree with lack of filthy homes. We don't live in a hermetically sealed bubbles.

Some people are just filthy. They eat all over their computer crunching and munching all day like they never saw food before and they are so lazy they expect the office cleaner to clean their dirt. People should practice basic hygiene and look after their machines and work space.

I say it a billion times. People who have respect for their gadgets and work area don’t have these filthy problems. I never had a dirty machine in 40 years. I never had a cracked screen on my phones. Never dropped a phone in a toilet like some people do, god knows how they do that.

 

[9081094]

It is about filth locally. Dust is very fine. It will go everywhere. Clean your environment. When I see colleagues with dirty desks and their computers look like filth I know what kind of people they are. My desks and computers always immaculate for decades even back when computers had massive gaps and ports.

Most people are like pigs . So the products designed for them should be built with that in mind or it’s an faulty design.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Most people are like pigs . So the products designed for them should be built with that in mind or it’s an faulty design.

Lol.

Where were these class action law suits for so many years when computers had big gaps under keyboards and massive holes in the ports? And so many PCs still ship with these big gaps. They just want some Apple money because these people are not just filthy and stupid they are greedy too.

 

[LordVic]

Some people are just filthy. They eat all over their computer crunching and munching all day like they never saw food before and they are so lazy they expect the office cleaner to clean their dirt. People should practice basic hygiene and look after their machines and work space.

I say it a billion times. People who have respect for their gadgets and work area don’t have these filthy problems. I never had a dirty machine in 40 years. I never had a cracked screen on my phones. Never dropped a phone in a toilet like some people do, god knows how they do that.

We're not talking about that sort of filth though. this situation is occuring from naturally occuring dust in your area. This is not as simple as "don't eat around your computer" or "dust regularly".

Dust is an ongoing fight. Constantly. Every day. And some areas are dustier than others.

My last house was in a town surrounded by farms. The air was constantly dusty. every morning, even the dryest, nicest of summer days, my car would have a noticable film of dust on it, this dust gets inside thorugh any opening, everytime you open a window or a door.

you generate dust constantly. household dust is primary made up of human "fluff". dead skin/ hair cells that break off and float down.

it's a near impossibility no matter how clean you are to have a completely dust free home, unless you have a hermetically sealed house.

this means that no matter how amazingly we treat our electronics, dust is always a consideration that the manufacturer's need to consider. That's why many other manufacturers of computer equipment do include dust limiting filters/screens on machines.

But thisalso lends to the issue with Apple's airflow in their devices which tend to be subpar and work via negative balance (air gets sucked into any opening by creating avacume inside the casing by only having an exhaust fan).

As a system builder for hobby (and once professionaly), negative airflow is a terrible way of cooling down systems as it sucks dust in past dust filters and keeps the air "thinner" iside reducing airflow.

GOOD system airflow will have balance between intake fan and exhaust fan to create a steady flow of air through a defined pathway.

 

[9081094]

Lol.

Where were these class action law suits for so many years when computers had big gaps under keyboards and massive holes in the ports? And so many PCs still ship with these big gaps. They just want some Apple money because these people are not just filthy and stupid they are greedy too.

Because many years ago you were able to clean your piggery. You could open it, vacuum it, grab your fallen sandwich out of those massive holes and it all kept working. Overheating has never been an issue either. Today your MacBook overheats as a sandwich toaster while the keyboards stops working when a tiny crumb gets underneath. Faulty as a computer and faulty as a toaster

 

[cmwade77]

It is about filth locally. Dust is very fine. It will go everywhere. Clean your environment. When I see colleagues with dirty desks and their computers look like filth I know what kind of people they are. My desks and computers always immaculate for decades even back when computers had massive gaps and ports.

Umm, you assume that everyone has such an ability, many work in areas where no matter how much cleaning is done, there will always be a certain level of dust and the reality is that these machines need to be able to perform properly in normal operating conditions.
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Because many years ago you were able to clean your piggery. You could open it, vacuum it, grab your fallen sandwich out of those massive holes and it all kept working. Overheating has never been an issue either. Today your MacBook overheats as a sandwich toaster while the keyboards stops working when a tiny crumb gets underneath. Faulty as a computer and faulty as a toaster

Yep, believe it or not, those gaps were actually a part of the design that kept things working properly and in many cases were there intentionally to allow dust to escape and to provide better air flow.
[doublepost=1543607037][/doublepost]

I don't get this. Okay, so they install a dust guard... said dust guard gets a build up of dust which isn't seemingly getting cleaned off by the consumer, causing the machine to get inadequate cooling and causing your computer to overheat and cook itself.

Lets think about another example outside of the computer world. Your car has an air filter. Your told you need to replace or clean it (as one should with a laptop) and you don't resulting in your car's engine being compromised, or computer in this case. That's the manufactures fault because you didn't take proactive steps to clean it?

But that is the problem, they didn't install the dust guard, which means the dust goes directly into the machine.

 

[GuruZac]

Apple has been on a role with their attention to detail lately. For the many things they do right, they made some inexcusable blunders design wise.

 

[wozmatic]

I wish it was that easy!

I've had problems with dust and something like screen burn on my MacBook screen.

They replaced it for free. It happened again on my second screen. They replaced it for free. It happened again on my third screen. They replaced it for free. It happened again on my fourth screen. They gave me a new MacBook.

My friend has had the same issues, too. They had to replace her screen. It happened again on her second screen. They replaced it for free. It happened again on her third screen. They replaced it for free. It happened again on her fourth screen. They gave her a new laptop. It happened again on her new laptop. They gave her a free upgrade to a MacBook Air.

We're now at almost £7,000 worth of repairs and replacements between the two of us. Thank god they've all been on warranty.

Here's hoping it's over for me and this laptop lasts but... I think the 12" MacBook is just a poorly made product.

Haha wow that's funny

Apple's like "Well at least they look cool right?"

 

[mixel]

I say it a billion times. People who have respect for their gadgets and work area don’t have these filthy problems. I never had a dirty machine in 40 years. I never had a cracked screen on my phones. Never dropped a phone in a toilet like some people do, god knows how they do that.

It’s a design flaw and has little to do with the environment. The air contains dust, unless you’re non-human and live in a hermetically sealed chamber. I’ve seen this on iMacs in Apple stores. I’ve seen it on most iMacs I’ve seen in the wild to some degree. And it’s only on iMacs. Every other piece of tech I’ve owned has been fine, and my desk is clean.

Don’t be a judgemental jerk. People aren’t to blame for Apple screwing up a hardware design for years and years. Even in a dirty environment it should not be sucking dirt in and depositing it between layers of the lcd display. Ever. They could easily have sealed the screens better, as you can do it yourself at home if you’re crazy enough to invalidate your warranty to prevent an issue later. They could have done it themselves so damn easily.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Because many years ago you were able to clean your piggery. You could open it, vacuum it, grab your fallen sandwich out of those massive holes and it all kept working. Overheating has never been an issue either. Today your MacBook overheats as a sandwich toaster while the keyboards stops working when a tiny crumb gets underneath. Faulty as a computer and faulty as a toaster

Silence, how dare you eateth sandwich and cheetos on top of a Mac. Sin! If I see a dirty desk again you're fired.
[doublepost=1543620111][/doublepost]

It’s a design flaw and has little to do with the environment. The air contains dust, unless you’re non-human and live in a hermetically sealed chamber. I’ve seen this on iMacs in Apple stores. I’ve seen it on most iMacs I’ve seen in the wild to some degree. And it’s only on iMacs. Every other piece of tech I’ve owned has been fine, and my desk is clean.

Don’t be a judgemental jerk. People aren’t to blame for Apple screwing up a hardware design for years and years. Even in a dirty environment it should not be sucking dirt in and depositing it between layers of the lcd display. Ever. They could easily have sealed the screens better, as you can do it yourself at home if you’re crazy enough to invalidate your warranty to prevent an issue later. They could have done it themselves so damn easily.

I'm not being the judgemental jerk. These filthy rotters weren't suing back when dust easily went into thousands of devices. There are still thousands of devices made worldwide that get dust in them. Should every company be sued? They are basically looking at this rich company and looking for a golden egg. Our whole society is full of desperate people scrambling around and looking for free money. We should address this issue instead of crying like a privileged cry baby 'Mommy I got my cheetos in the keyboard waaa waaa I want to sue'